BRB Session Topics

BRAINSTORM ROUND ONE

A. Can we create a gold
standard (hospitality and service) for rural that makes us the most intriguing
place to eat, visit, shop, and work? How would we do it? What would it look like?
THINK
BIG and BOLD!

B. Community doers are out
there, sometime hidden. How does any size town, especially a volunteer-led
town, find and galvanize these folks? Volunteers want to choose what they do,
they want to be part of something productive, and something big in value. How
could you get everyone in a town involved, ages 8-98? THINK BIG and BOLD!

C. How could we design an
online Foodie Map to show where to buy local produce and meats and find the best
made-from-scratch foods, etc.? THINK BIG and BOLD!

D. Do you have all the
internet and cell phone access you need in your town? It's vital that we share
the personal success stories due to access but to also graphically make the
case for what happens when we don't have access in rural. How do we collect
this information to share with lawmakers? THINK BIG and BOLD!

E. We can increase the value
of rural education by shouting loud and in inspiring fashion about our
successes and assets. How would we do that in a big and bold way? THINK BIG and BOLD!

F. Big money is continually
leaving rural Kansas. What is the magnet that could draw big money back or to
keep it here? THINK BIG and BOLD!

G. Do you love living in your
town or do you feel like you compromise? What would it take to make you feel
like you had everything you really wanted? How can you help make that
happen? THINK BIG and BOLD!

H. Insert hot Practice Round Topic here.

E. Join this focus group to
help KSU program designers plan a program for rural communities regarding
climate change impact on your towns. This is an opportunity to help shape a
program to energize your town around this issue.

BRAINSTORM ROUND TWO

A. Towns without schools and
grocery stores, feel like they don't have much. But, what do you
have now and how can the whole community work to make that great? THINK BIG and BOLD!

B. What are the possibilities
for a rural tourism brand that meant "come see us, our whole town, just as
we are?" Would it be good for the town? Would it be good for the visitor? THINK BIG and BOLD!

C. Most of our counties have
an older population. Let's use it to our advantage! How could rural communities
revolutionize assisted living, rural style? THINK BIG and BOLD!

D. Housing issues are huge!
As ruralists, what are things we can do at the local level to not just talk
about it but to physically do something? THINK BIG and BOLD!

E. PowerUp Meet Up!

F. Wild Card Room

G. What if...the volume minimum was $2,500 and the weekly delivery
included local foods, Kansas products, and a Kansas label on national brands,
all sold at prices lower than box stores? What if...this opportunity came only
to small town grocery stores? What if...we turned these stores into tourism
destinations? Would this change the fortunes of rural
communities? THINK BIG and BOLD.

H. Imagine a scenario, like a
fashion show of sorts, that would attract angel investors to it to hear ideas,
inventions, and plans? Capital is out there. We need to show that we're a great
investment. How do we round up investors and then blow their socks off through
presentations? THINK BIG and BOLD!

E. Towns need certain
businesses, like plumbers, electricians, etc. How do we get the word out about
job opportunities like this? How can we develop a trade school-rural town
pathway? THINK BIG and BOLD!